Maintaining Brand in a Recession:

How Your Talent Distinguishes the Customers' Experience

February 24, 2009

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EMS knew they could co-create a distinctive brand for retail. They began re-thinking, “what is successful retail?” It needed to be more than persuading lots of people to buy products for roughly twice what it really costs to make and doing this better than every other company trying to do the same thing. So EMS applied the same principles Cirque de Soleil did when they re-invented the circus.

EMS acknowledged there was no more “business as usual” and had to re-invent themselves based on individual strengths and potential from leadership to the front line. They kept paramount what would resonate with their customers, and committed to reflect that in what their talent does everyday. At first they made the assumption their frontline had a skill issue, but then discovered that District Managers were not able to rattle off the steps in outfitting a customer. They identified three primary “customer pain points” and worked closely with District Managers to model and convey their customer-focused strategy in succinct every day conversations they had with talent. As a result, their talent transformed their conversations with customers to become “guides” and enabled customers achieve their outdoor aspirations. EMS’ results compared to other retail competitors were superior.

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